On Thursday May 16th teachers from around the state will gather at the State House to DEMAND that our public schools are FULLY FUNDED. As it stands, our state government is under-funding public education by more than $1-2 BILLION a year. For Braintree alone that is a loss of $4,043,481!

Imagine what we could do with the funding we deserve. We could fix that leaky roof, replace moldy carpets, remove asbestos, solve heating/cooling issues, purchase technology, books, and classroom supplies. These funds would not only help us fix existing problems, but would help us prepare for future success in a rapidly growing district. I know we are all proud to work with what we have, but imagine if we had what we actually needed???

Maybe you think, “Well, I’ve got it pretty good in Braintree.” Maybe you don’t need more support, classroom supplies, or technology. If that’s the case, then consider students and teachers in nearby Brockton. If our campaign is successful it would mean an additional $46,484,084 for their district!!!

Please wear RED and join us in demonstrating to our legislators that WE WILL FIGHT to preserve public education and the success of our students.

Our Kids Don’t Have Time To Waste: Fund Our Schools

As members of the community and Patriots players, we feel deeply indebted to our society and our supporters. We have visited many schools in Massachusetts and Rhode Island — schools that are thriving and schools that are struggling — and have been inspired by the children we have met there. We know they are the future of our region, our nation, and the world, and we are confident that they can achieve amazing things.

As a community, we know it is impossible to achieve without support and resources. This is why we fund public schools, and that’s why we provide additional support to the populations that require it.

In Massachusetts, we rank #1 by US News and World Report for education, yet 70% of Black and Latino third-graders read below grade level according to Stand.org. That number is even worse for third-graders for whom English is a second language (ESL) and for those who are economically disadvantaged — 80% read below grade level. Reading ability is a key predictor of future educational success. Any missed opportunity to invest in our kids stunts all of our collective futures. When we provide adequate educational resources for all children, we provide a foundation, an opportunity for success regardless of the child’s background.

We know that there are competing budgetary priorities for all publicly funded entities, but we are fierce competitors prepared to battle for our children.

As the 2015 Foundation Budget Review Commission (FBRC) study demonstrated, there is a budget shortfall in our state school system. In case you are wondering, the FBRC is a bipartisan group comprised of informed stakeholders, including education experts and legislators. Unfortunately, low income school districts and those where students speak English as a second language are the populations most affected by the insufficiency. Meanwhile, low income and ESL students have greater necessities and therefore require more funding than their more affluent counterparts. By contrast, the amount of money the state currently provides to educate our most defenseless groups, is “less than needed to fully provide the level of intervention and support needed to ensure the academic and social-emotional success of these populations” the FBRC wrote in its report.

According to a recent article in the Boston Globe, in 2016–2017, Brockton schools spent just $14,778 per student per year, compared to more affluent Weston, where they spent $24,458. Many of Brockton’s students are disadvantaged economically and socially, with a large proportion of low income, ESL, and minority pupils, necessitating special educational assistance. It costs more to educate Brockton’s population, yet we spend less on these students.

Unfortunately, this report came as no surprise to those who attend and work in our state’s most economically disadvantaged schools. Dedicated teachers pay for supplies out of their own pockets to support classrooms overcrowded with students they educate with knowledge and passion.

Recently, the Senate unanimously passed a bill to substantially increase the amount of money provided to our schools, including in communities that need more aid. Fully incorporating the recommendations provided by the FBRC report, the bill will dramatically alter the way budget costs are calculated so that they match the realities of our school system. This would provide critical services and programs including counselors, wrap-around services, resources like technology and books, professional development, arts classes, and preschool programs.

Unfortunately, the committee recommendations were not fully accepted by the House. The House bill supports only parts of the Senate bill (increasing funding of employee healthcare and special education); however, it has recommended more research on how to better fund education for ESL and low income students.

What is the message we want to send to our most vulnerable students in our most impoverished communities? Do we use the best available knowledge to do our best to improve the foundation of all of our children? Or do we tell our children to sit and wait while we do more research? The state has already invested significant resources in the FBRC, a committee of key stakeholders. If we are complacent, will our children in less affluent circumstances fall farther and farther behind? All of our children deserve an equal chance at success regardless of their economic backgrounds. Shouldn’t our policies reflect that?

As early as this week, the Senate and House head to committee to reconcile the two bills. As fathers, members of the community, and New England Patriots, we support fully funding the realistic requirements of our schools. Our elected officials should incorporate all five of the Commission’s recommendations, including the increased funding for those who most need it. And they must do so before July 31st, or negotiations will have to begin yet again next year. Our children should not wait any longer. As adults, let’s “do our job” and set all of our children up for success.

About the Co-Authors

Devin McCourty is the Chairperson of the Education & Economic Advancement Committee for Players Coalition, an independent 501c3/501c4 organization led by professional athletes to impact social and racial equality. Matthew Slater and Jason McCourty are active members in Players Coalition. All three athletes play for the New England Patriots. Visit www.players-coalition.org for more information and follow us at @playercoalition.

Hundreds of millions of dollars in education funding are at stake. Please go hereto ask your state representative and senator to co-sponsorourtwo funding bills, the Promise Act and the Cherish Act. The deadline for adding co-sponsors in the House is this Friday, Feb. 1, so don’t delay!

Governor Charlie Baker also filed an education funding bill and addressed the issue in his budget. We want to give you an update about his proposal versus the Fund Our Future bills.

The Good News: Because of your advocacy, the governor felt the pressure to propose a sizable increase in spending on our public schools. He also added a significant amount of money for public higher education for this coming year. This never would have happened without the stories you have told about the desperate need for public education funding.

While Baker has described his bill as increasing the foundation budget for public schools by more than $1 billion, phased in over seven years, only a portion of that total would come from the state. The rest would have to come from our cities and towns. Most importantly, in providing insufficient resources to educate low-income students, Baker’s bill fails to fully implement all of the recommendations of the Foundation Budget Review Commission.

Equally disturbing, Baker’s proposal would give the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, through Commissioner Jeff Riley, the right to withhold funds from our neediest districts if they don’t follow his “reform” plans. You know what that means – more charters, more and new kinds of takeover plans, a rollback in collective bargaining rights, and a greater emphasis on testing.

Furthermore, Baker doesn’t provide nearly enough for public higher education, and he makes no commitment to get us back to the funding levels we need.

The Good News: We have made public education funding the number one issue in the state. And we have developed legislation that will truly Fund Our Future.

The Promise Act would bring $1.3 billion in new state funds to preK-12 schools if it were implemented in the next fiscal year, and it would require some communities to contribute more from local revenues. It fully funds the FBRC’s recommendations, provides more resources to some districts hit hard by charter schools, and increases minimum aid payments at a higher level than the governor’s bill. There would be no strings attached to this new funding – because educators and local officials know best what our students need.

The Cherish Act would restore per-student public higher education state spending to the level reached in 2001, when adjusted for inflation, providing $500 million more per year when fully phased in.

Polling shows that Massachusetts voters overwhelmingly trust educators as the most authoritative voice on public education. You, the members, are building the momentum to win this campaign. More than 15,000 members signed petitions endorsing the Fund Our Future bills in just a few weeks. We are making waves in the State House with our school committee resolutions and community forums. We have put legislators on notice that they have to get this done by May 1 so that schools and colleges can start to see increased funding by the fall.

The fight has just begun. We need every MTA member to become involved in this essential battle for the public schools and colleges our students deserve.

Get your school committee or higher education board of trustees to pass a resolution supporting full funding. We already have 52 school committees on board. Let’s triple that number!

Again, please ask your representative and senator to co-sponsor our two funding bills, the Promise Act and the Cherish Act.

Show up for an upcoming community forum. We have many scheduled across the state. Share your stories and make sure legislators are committed to full funding without poison pills.

“The state’s new MCAS-based accountability system is as predictable and destructive as the old system. The results show that schools serving a high percentage of low-income students, English learners and students of color do not perform as well as those that serve more affluent students.

What is dispiriting is that the new system calls for these schools to receive “targeted intervention” while providing no additional funding. Once again, the state is paying lip service to helping these students without providing the resources.

The state’s Foundation Budget Review Commission determined in 2015 that the foundation budget formula understates how much money is needed to fund low-income students, English learners and students with disabilities, the very students whose MCAS scores typically are below average.

It’s time for the Legislature to make the connection and act. The best “targeted intervention” for our schools is to provide them with the resources that parents, educators and even the nonpartisan FBRC know are essential to creating the schools our students and communities deserve. That is why the MTA will be promoting legislation in 2019 to increase state funding for public schools by $1 billion under an updated foundation budget formula.

Going forward, we have to fix the accountability system so that policymakers are also held accountable. They must be accountable for making sure that every school has positive attributes such as small class sizes, a full-time nurse and school social worker, librarians and a robust arts program. And we must fix the system by reducing the focus on standardized tests, since that focus narrows the curriculum and stifles creativity in the schools that serve the students who need enrichment the most — low-income students of color who have too often been left behind.”

The Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Teachers Association has voted overwhelmingly to recommend Jay Gonzalez, the Democratic candidate running against incumbent Republican Governor Charlie Baker.

MTA-recommended candidate Jay Gonzalez

“Jay is a strong supporter of public schools and public higher education,” said MTA President Merrie Najimy. “Unlike Baker, Gonzalez has taken a bold position in favor of raising new revenues through progressive taxes that ask more of our wealthy residents in order to fund the common good, at the core of which are our public schools and colleges.”

Gonzalez wants to raise $1 billion in the short term in order to begin investing in public schools, colleges and public transportation. Over the longer run, he wants to raise another $2 billion from the wealthiest residents in the Commonwealth. Gonzalez was a strong supporter of the Fair Share Amendment, also referred to as the millionaires’ tax, which would have raised a projected $2 billion a year for public education and transportation by increasing taxes on annual income over $1 million. The MTA was a strong proponent of that amendment as part of the Raise Up Massachusetts coalition.

Baker declined to commit himself one way or the other on the Fair Share Amendment; James Peyser, his secretary of education, actively opposed it. In June, the state Supreme Judicial Court, the majority of whose members were appointed by Baker, ruled against allowing the question to appear on the November ballot.

Gonzalez said that if he is elected he will advocate to have a revised version of that proposal placed on the ballot and will actively support it.

He also pledged to support public schools over privatized charter schools. In 2016, Gonzalez opposed Question 2, the ballot question to lift the cap on charter schools, and he continues to be against charter school expansions and in favor of keeping the cap and fully funding the charter school reimbursement account. Baker was a leading supporter of Question 2 and continues to strongly support charter schools. In addition, Baker appointee Paul Sagan, chair of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, donated $496,000 to the main pro-charter campaign organization, which subsequently was fined for hiding the source of this contribution and others.

“Jay Gonzalez is the pro-public-education candidate in this race.”

MTA President Merrie Najimy

Gonzalez also expressed concerns about skyrocketing debt among students who attend public colleges and universities in Massachusetts. He pledged to support initiatives that would guarantee students a debt-free college education. Baker has made no such commitment.

Gonzalez’ platform includes support for numerous progressive causes, including criminal justice reform, stronger gun safety laws and addressing climate change. He is a strong opponent of President Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant platform.

“Jay Gonzalez is the pro-public-education candidate in this race,” said Najimy. “We are urging our members to look at the policy positions and records of both candidates and to support the candidate who will do the most to create the public schools and colleges students, educators and communities deserve.”

Don’t be fooled by the right-wing backers of the assault on public education into giving up your job security, your rights and your benefits. By being part of the MTA, we have the power to stand up for our profession, our students and our communities.